International Harry Potter Day 2016!

The Sorting Hat’s New Song

 

 

Not so many years ago, the Dark Lord was defeated.

Those left behind sought out to see the old systems deleted.

Four houses that had once nearly torn our school apart,

So they thought to change our ways, to make another start.

 

Boundaries and divisions set our world in black and white,

If we’d continued that way, we’d have meet a sorry plight.

So they sought to make anew the great houses of old,

That we may sort our students, yet keep them in the fold.

 

They sat down to think and plan, to find a better way,

Something to soften divisions, to keep tension at bay.

And so they decided on twelve houses, not four,

To forge the path together as they’d never done before.

 

The Hufflerins work day and night, to see their plans take fruit,

But never do they deceive to win; they take another route.

The Huffleclaws foster the best, patiently teaching others,

They create brilliant ways to uplift sisters and brothers.

And always look to Huffledor to see what one can be,

Fight for what’s right, for justice, for love and honesty.

 

The dreams and goals of Slytherpuffs are realised every day;

Their loyalty makes good connections, in work and in play.

The shining group of Slytherclaw will always come out top,

Their iron determination and intelligence won’t stop.

Boundaries are pushed by Slytherdors, with fearless ambition;

No one will get in their way once they’re on a mission.

 

You’ll look hard to find things Ravenpuffs don’t excel at,

They’ll work their minds to gain prowess at the drop of a hat.

In Ravenrin, those select few are chosen to take part,

In brilliant ways that they achieve to set themselves apart.

The Ravendors bravely pursue knowledge at every cost,

They look on what is to gain, never what could be lost.

 

In Gryffinpuff you’ll always find friends looking for fun,

Daring and adventure, one for all and all for one.

You may think the Gryffinrins are mad with the things they do,

But see the reward of those risks, it always sees them through.

The Gryffinclaws are always out to save the world and us,

Their clever methods leave us all good without a fuss.

 

So they tore down the dormitories, the tables and the teams,

To let students choose where to eat, to play and share their dreams.

And Hogwarts is united, after so, so many years,

Never again to turn away from its friends and its peers.

 

Who Are You?

Who are You who never leaves me?
What are You that sets me free?
Where are You that you’re always here?
Why do You love me, wipe my every tear?
You’re my protector when I’m lost and alone.
You’re the strength I don’t have on my own.
You’re my heart as it beats,
You’re the one that my soul meets.
You loved me when I laughed at You,
Loved me when I cursed You, too.
You loved me when I pushed You away,
You love me and You’re here to stay.
You’re the one I run to first,
The one whom I bring every hurt.
The one who can make me smile,
Even when it’s hurt for a while.
You’re the light in my eyes,
You’re the one who helps me rise,
Rise above the fear and pain,
Gently lifting all my strain.
You’re my confident and my friend,
The one who’ll see me to the end.
You’re the one really who knows me,
Your acceptance sets me free.
You died so that I need not,
You so love me, and for what?
I could live a thousand years,
And never deserve Your pain and tears.
Yet You suffered so that I may rest,
You took me and made me blessed.
You are the purpose of my life,
The direction I look to in all strife.
You are the reason for my joy,
You will let nothing destroy
The life you’ve helped me build,
Now what was empty has been filled.
You are the one I long to see,
To my hope, You are the key.
No doubt I’ll again let You down,
But you will never let me drown,
In regret or fear, anything but love,
Heavenly, sent from above.
And when, at the end of my days,
I come and fix You with my gaze,
There’s only one thing I want to do –
Say ‘Thank you, and I love you.’

Islam - The Beauty of the Beliefs

I saw a quote on Facebook the other day, saying that it is the duty of those of us with religious privilege to stand up to condemnation of other religions and say ‘not on our watch’. It went on to say that it is not enough to quietly not believe slander about others; we need to stand up to it. This really resonated with me, so I decided to take it one step further.

I particularly want to address all the negative stuff that is going around about Islam at the moment. I am not Muslim, and I don’t know much about the religion, so I have endeavoured to do thorough research on it, but please forgive me if I make mistakes; I am open to corrections from people who know more than me.

 

Firstly, I looked up the major beliefs of Islam. Here is what I found:

·          They believe in one true God, called Allah

·          Their Holy Book is the Quran

·          They believe on prophets as the messengers of Allah, and in angels

·          They believe in salvation and punishment after death

·          They believe that Allah knows all and sees all, and that nothing happens against His will

 

Take a good look at these beliefs. I can’t find anything violent or offensive here. Can you? These are actually pretty standard beliefs – most religions have similar ones. So if you’re going to have a problem with these, keep in mind that you then should have a problem with about 90% of all religious people in the world – and good luck carrying around a grudge that big! I certainly don’t envy you.

 

Now, let’s look at the morals of Islam:

·               Islam holds its believes to strict moral standards; they believe that all actions should be to the glory of Allah, hence they must follow His laws and morals exactly

·               They believe that worshipping Allah is very important

·               They believe strongly in charity. Zakat is a compulsory charity that all Muslims who are financially stable must pay according to the Quran

·               They believe not only in acting morally themselves, but to have a positive impact on their community, helping others to act morally as well

·               They warn against becoming attached to material things; that it is what is in your heart that really matters

·               They believe in honesty and sincerity, even when honesty is not in the individual’s own interest

·               This is important: they do not believe in compulsion of religion. Islam states that the truth of Allah is self-evident, and that people should come to it without being forced. Quran 2:256 – Sahih International: There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing

 

Now I don’t know about you, but those seem like pretty good morals to me. Most of these morals are ones that are commonly held up as admirable ones today. Other people worship different Gods, or don’t worship at all, but the morals of honesty, charity and free will are universal. The point I am trying to make here is that Islam is not a bad religion. They have beautiful, peaceful beliefs. If everyone lived by the morals of Islam, the world would be a much better place.

Unfortunately, not all Muslims live by their own moral code, but that is not because there is a problem with the religion. Not all Christians live by their moral codes, either. Vlad the Impaler was a Christian; some of his more gruesome habits were roasting infants and feeding them to their mothers, and impaling his enemies on sticks in his dining hall and eating among the corpses. The Jews have been at war over Israel for thousands of years. Atheists and agnostics commit terrible crimes just as much as anyone else.

Do you see the pattern here? There are crazy and evil people all over the world. Some of them use religion as an excuse for their insanity, others don’t. I promise you, if religion didn’t exist, there would still be evil people in the world, they’d just find another excuse for it.

Now let’s talk about ISIS. ISIS has undoubtedly done very bad things, and I would not like to be friends with anyone who supports them. But here’s a secret you may not know: most Muslims are even angrier at ISIS than you are! They’re dragging the name of Islam through the mud, helping to slander a beautiful and peaceful religion.

I am a Christian. I am not ashamed to say it, even though Christians have done terrible things in the past. No one thinks I am evil because the Crusades happened; they realise that Christianity is at heart a good religion, there have just been some people who have misused it. So what do we not use that same logic for Islam? It is absolutely hypocritical to think that Islam is bad because of some very loud extremists. Whatever your beliefs are, I can guarantee you that somewhere in history, someone with your exact beliefs has done something unspeakably terrible.

The hysteria about ISIS is understandable; many people have been killed tragically. Should we be angry? Yes, of course we should! But we should be angry with ISIS, the actual culprits. Don’t misuse your anger and direct it at others because some crazy people are using their beliefs as an excuse for murder. You wouldn’t like it if people said you are a bad person because some terrorists are misusing your beliefs, so don’t do it to other people!

The morals and laws of Islam are directly against ISIS. If Islam as a religion were to disappear today, do you think the ISIS members would suddenly become good, peaceful people? I don’t – people who are committed to hate are committed to hate, not to a religion that preaches love and charity.

I looked up some statistics, and the highest number I’ve seen for the total number of people killed by ISIS is 200 000. Did you know that 1.5 million people are killed by HIV/AIDS every year? So get off your high horse – if you really want to help prevent deaths, it would be more effective for you to educate people about AIDS than go after ISIS. Not that ISIS shouldn’t be gone after, but please, stop blaming Islam for this. ISIS does not follow the principles of Islam; they shouldn’t even get to call themselves Muslim.

Many belief systems believe that everything happens for a reason. Maybe ISIS was meant to happen to teach us a crucial lesson: we are all human and all equal; which God we worship, or if we worship at all, doesn’t matter. What matters is that we share the same moral values, and that we unite against those whose values oppose ours, no matter which religion they choose.

You cannot fight hate with hate. You can only fight it with love. So let’s stop with the anger and focus on solving the problem, but not losing our own humanity along the way. I am a Christian. My family are atheists. One of my colleagues at work is Muslim. A few generations back my family was Jewish. It doesn’t matter. We’re all human, and if we can’t unite in love, there’s no hope for any of us.

 

 

 

 

Sources

http://www.islam-guide.com/ch3-2.htm

http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/beliefs

http://www.whyislam.org/social-values-in-islam/social-ties/morality-ethics-in-islam/

https://www.quora.com/How-do-ordinary-Muslims-feel-about-Islamic-terrorism

http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=2&verse=256

https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-have-been-killed-by-ISIS

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/

http://www.whyislam.org/islam123/articles-of-faith-2/

http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/46/third-pillar-of-islam/

 

International Harry Potter Day 2015

Happy international Harry Potter day! May the Dark Arts never defeat you, and you lives be full of magic! :) In honour of the occasion I’ve written a little piece on the Hogwarts Houses for people who don’t know much about them, or for people who don’t understand them properly, due to the fact they haven’t read the books enough times. I know all real fans understand perfectly, but feel free to share with your less-educated peers.

 

Hufflepuff

Quality 1: hard working

Quality 2: loyal

Quality 3: honest

Quality 4: patient

Incorrect negative stereotype: stupid

Correct negative stereotype: weak (personalities)

 

Ravenclaw

Quality 1: intelligent

Quality 2: love of learning

Quality 3: creative

Quality 4: witty

Incorrect negative stereotype: none (assumption is correct)

Correct negative stereotype: arrogance

 

Gryffindor

Quality 1: brave

Quality 2: daring

Quality 3: bold

Quality 4: chivalrous

Incorrect negative stereotype: none (assumption is correct)

Correct negative stereotype: reckless / attention seeking

 

Slytherin

Quality 1: ambitious

Quality 2: resourceful

Quality 3: determined

Quality 4: cunning (in a good way or a bad way, depending on the person)

Incorrect negative stereotype: evil

Correct negative stereotype: selfish / prejudiced

 

Qualities

Applies to all members of house, though house members can have qualities from other houses, too. People are placed in the house they have the most in common with. Example: someone can be hard working, but they won't be placed in Hufflepuff if they are more intelligent and creative than they are hard working (they go to Ravenclaw). Exceptions happen when people are mis-Sorted (example: Wormtail, who wasn’t brave, shouldn’t have been a Gryffindor)

 

Stereotypes

This is what people automatically think of the house. Applies to some members of the house, but not all; someone with one of the correct negative stereotypes will probably (though not infallibly) be in the corresponding house. Example: if someone is arrogant, they will probably be in Ravenclaw, but this doesn't mean all Ravenclaws are arrogant. Exceptions are common.

 

Places

Hufflepuffs are the kind ones; the loyal friends, the patient teachers… the ones you always turn to when you have no one else.

Ravenclaws are the brilliant ones; the scientists, the mathematicians… the cutting edge of academia all over the world.

Slytherins are the successful ones; the entrepreneurs, company owners… outstanding in their various fields.

Gryffindors are the heros; the policemen, the fire fighters… always trying to save the world.

 

Everyone knows that Ravenclaw and Gryffindor need no defence – the books showed them in a perfectly good light. However, to this day, Slytherin and Hufflepuff get a whole bunch of rubbish from ignorant people; here is what you can say to them.

 

Hufflepuff defence:

You’re right – we’re not the highfliers, the ones in the spotlights. We’re the ones who fall through the cracks. We’re the ones who do the little things that no one else has time for. You may look down on us because we’re not as successful, smart or brave as you are, but the world needs us.

You need us to teach those who need help, you need us to accept those who everyone rejects, you need us to be honest with you when everyone else shows you only lies. You need to be able to rely on us, you need us to be loyal when you’ve been hurt and betrayed. You need us in all the small ways. All the world sees is your splendour, but they don’t see how close you were to failure, how you were once ready to give up and you turned to us for help.

We are the ones who encourage Slytherins when they are sure all their dreams will fail. We are the ones who’ll sit with Ravenclaws for hours letting them bounce ideas off us. We are the ones who comfort and heal the Gryffindors when they’re hurt and weary from their struggles.

You may look down on us, but you’ll turn to us when you need us. And when you do, we’ll be there, even if you’ve hurt us, ignored us and abandoned us, because that’s what being a Hufflepuff is. Maybe to the world it looks like nothing, but when you come to us empty handed with no one else to turn to, for you, it looks like everything.

 

Slytherin defence

Do you like your life? Do you like being able to flick a switch and have light? Do you like being able to visit friends and family in other countries? Perhaps you would prefer to go and chop up some wood every time you wanted light, to spend years on a journey to see others in distant countries?

I think not.

Humanity has clawed itself up from the dirt, one step at a time. Look at how our society has advanced – our technology, medicine, increasingly equal rights for everyone, basic living conditions… sure, there are loads of problems, but if you compare them to the problems of the past? We’re coasting here.

We rode to where we are on the backs of Slytherins. Slytherins are the achievers, the ones who’re always trying to be better, bigger, always pushing for that step forward.

Sure, they may have gotten some help from Ravenclaws, but Ravenclaws are interested in the intellectual; it’s the Slytherins who take those findings and use them. Slytherins solve problems; they are constantly trying to make things work better, because what they see is bigger than what any of the rest of us can even imagine.

We could have been happy with the first computer that fitted in a room. We could have lived with it. Slytherins were the ones who pushed to make it better, faster, more convenient. Slytherins are the ones who expand our economies and world trade. Slytherins are the ones we look up to when we’re asked who we want to be like.

Perhaps you would prefer to be living in a cave, warding the lions off with a stick and hoping you’ll survive the winter. If you want a world like that, then take it. For me, I’d rather live in a world where everything is constantly improved, tested, made better, ridded of defects. I’d rather have a world with Slytherins in it. Some of the best people you know are Slytherins, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 

 

It’s been 17 years since Voldemort was defeated, but Harry Potter still holds all of our hearts as it did on that first day when we picked up book one. If you’ve read this post right until the end, take a few minutes to do your part for Harry. Persuade someone who hasn’t to read the books. Change a life.

 

Lost

What is your most prized possession? Is it your house? Your car? No, your most precious possession is much more valuable than that. As humans, we take things for granted.  With so much stuff all around us, what we really value the most is a given, always there. We always worry about other things, things that don’t really matter. By the time you realise what you prize most, it has already been taken away.

 

My mum was a scientist – a marine biologist. She travelled the world, studying fascinating creatures of distant oceans. The doctors don’t know where she got it. I suppose it doesn’t really matter anymore.

It started with the paranoia. I told myself that it was just a midlife crisis, that she’d snap out of it. I should have known better. My mum has always been a rock in my life – constant, reliable and unchanging. I tried to help her, tried to persuade myself that her increasingly erratic behaviour could be explained by anything – any small, easily fixable thing. I kept thinking she would get better on her own – after all, she’s never been sick a day in her life.

By the time she wouldn’t go out of the house for fear of the neighbours spying on her, wouldn’t eat as she was sure Woolworths was poisoning her food, I knew something had to be done.

The doctors were completely baffled. They tried everything they knew, but it just kept getting worse. My mother was going insane and nobody could stop it. No drug, no surgery could get back for her that which she had always valued beyond anything else.

I remember worrying about not getting the dress I wanted for a party, worrying about which neighbourhood I live in and which type of car I drive. I laugh scornfully at myself. What I wouldn’t give to have those worries back now, for the most pressing things on my mind to be so trivial. Day after day, I sit in my room, surrounded by the useless stuff that I used to prize so much, but not one thing can help me get back what really matters.

Now the woman who used to be my mother is in a locked ward, heavily sedated for her own safety. I stopped visiting a while ago. I may as well be visiting a stranger. A stranger who doesn’t know she has a daughter.

Yesterday, I started experiencing symptoms of paranoia.

I haven’t told anyone yet. I don’t want to see the looks of horror on their faces when they realise that whatever my mum has is catchy. I spend my days with friends and family, but it becomes harder to hide the growing symptoms. One by one, I tell them that I love them, then bid them a silent goodbye.

Finally, only I am left. I can feel the insanity creeping up on me, stalking the dark edges of my mind. Soon, it will be too strong, and I will be carried away on the whirlwind, just like my mother. A tear falls down my cheek as I fully realise what I am losing. Before all this, I would have thought it was the end of the world to lose my brand new car. Now, I would trade everything I have just not to lose myself.

I fight it for a long time, but eventually, I know it is time. Time to go gracefully. Time to let go. I get up and look in the mirror, looking at myself. The next thing I see will probably be the walls of a padded room. No, the next thing these eyes see. I won’t be there. I take some small comfort that, even if insanity is stealing my mind from me, at least I won’t be there to see it.

I stifle a sob and tell myself that it is the not worst thing. I have had a good life, short as it was. I only wish I had appreciated what I had before it was almost gone. I stare at the brown eyes in the mirror, and they stare back at me. I can feel the madness surging, ready for my surrender, waiting to take me like it did my mum.

Maybe I will see her, wherever I am going. Is there some place that lost minds go to?

I take the snippet of hope, telling myself that I will see her again. Then I address the face in the mirror for the last time.

“Goodbye,” I whisper.

The swirling madness rears upwards, and I am gone.

 

Your most prized possession is your mind. Like all humans, you don’t really appreciate what you have until it is gone. By then it is too late. What you have taken for granted has already been lost.

May Angels Watch Over You

May Angels Watch Over You

 

 

May angels watch over you,

To see you whole and made new.

Encircle with protective arms,

And keep you safe from all harms.

 

May angels watch over you,

Keep your skies forever blue.

Show you nothing except peace,

Let troubles in your world cease.

 

May angels watch over you,

Keep you fresh as morning dew.

Let them take care of your woes,

Just relax as worry goes.

 

May angels watch over you,

None deserve more than you do.

A thousand gentle, shining hands,

Carry you through all the lands.

 

May angels watch over you,

They will love you as we do.

May they help to make you brave,

Sheltered in a dark, warm cave.

 

May angels watch over you,

May they gently see you through.

May angels watch over you;

You just rest, we’ll see they do.

 

 

 

For Tam, the most amazing best friend

anyone could ever wish for! <3

A Love Poem

A Love Poem

 

 

This is a love poem, born of passion,

Of magic and dragons and strange compassion.

This is a love poem, born of joy,

Of swords and rivers none can destroy.

 

This is a love poem, born of strife,

Of fighting, despair, a cutting knife.

This is a love poem, born of truth,

Of victory and flight and eternal youth.

 

This is a love poem, born of peace,

Of the land we turn to when life will cease.

This is a love poem, born of hope,

Of prophets and fates of endless scope.

 

This is a love poem, born of my heart,

Enchantment and wonder here right from the start.

This is a love poem, born of my dreams,

Fantasy, magic, much more than it seems.